How to Make and Print Your Own Free Paper Dolls Online and Off; Including Vintage Paper Dolls

It's time to get creative!

When I was a little girl, I used to play with paper dolls a lot. My father was an antique dealer and always had vintage toys for me to play with and there was always ample amounts of vintage paper dolls on hand! I also used to make my own paper doll clothes; it's really easy to do. Your children can use paper dolls to have a creative playtime, or print them out and use them to create art such as greeting cards or collages for a unique project.

This article will discuss how to create your own paper dolls (creating the base and clothes) as well as telling you where and how to print FREE paper dolls online, including vintage and modern paper dolls.

Whether you are looking to make your own from hand or print vintage dolls of the computer, you've come to the right place!

How to Make Your Own Paper Dolls (By Hand)

Making paper dolls by hand is really easy. It's a great activity for girls of all ages. I'd recommend that if your daughter is really young, that you let her color in the designs and you cut them out.

What You'll Need:

Heavy duty paper (white cardstock works great!)

Graphite pencils

Fine tip black marker

Colored pencils

Imagination and creativity!

Directions:

Hand draw an outline of a body shape with a pencil on cardstock. You can include hair, or just make a "bald" doll.

Once you're happy with your outline, trace over the outline with your fine point marker.

Draw on a face and underclothes.

Now carefully cut out around the outline.

You're doll is done!

To make clothes, put the cut out doll over another piece of cardstock and trace with pencil.

From the outline on the new piece of paper, draw with pencil a shirt and pants (or skirt or dress).

If you didn't make hair on your doll, also draw a 'wig'.

Once you've drawn outlines of clothes that you're happy with, trace with your fine point marker and carefully cut them out.

Now, have your child color in patterns and designs on the clothes and affix to the doll!

Repeat the process as many times as you want to create various tops and bottoms to outfit your doll in.

How to Make Your Own Paper Dolls (By Printing)

If you're not up to handdrawing your own paper dolls on cardstock, there are always tons of free resources online to use that will allow you to print your own base doll and more outfits and acessories that you can ever imagine!

Some sites have black and white images (so your child can color them in) and others have them already in color. All you have to do is print and cut!

Paper Dolls Offline

Where to Print Free Vintage Paper Dolls Online

As I said earlier, even though I was a child of the 80's I grew up playing with my own vintage dolls! It's a lot harder to find antique vintage doll books, but a lot of folks have scanned the pages online and you can now print and play with them for free. Some of them are in full color, while others are in black and white (not greyscale) and you can color them in with colored pencils or markers to customize your own outfits!

Comments

No HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites.

sending

Leviloves1573 2 years ago

very nice you cool person! u are good! :D ;) :P :)

laurel536 5 years agofrom North Carolina, United States

I loved playing with paperdolls when I was little and I especially loved coloring them in before I dressed the dolls. Great hub.

Gift Experts 7 years ago

Thanks for this! Trying to make some paper dolls for my new granddaughter ;)

Bre-Anna 7 years ago

This craft is cool but hard

Susan Haze 7 years agofrom Sunny Florida

Wonderful hub - I am impressed by the depth of information. You have truly done a wonderful job. I have rated up, awesome and bookmarked for future use. Thanks.

SamiAnne 7 years ago

LOve this Hub! I love paper dolls

Jill 7 years ago

I used one of the links to make foam "paper" dolls for the bathtub. Sparked an interest in my 5 yr old step daughter and now "have" to print off a whole bunch more. I think I'm going either for the Italian or vintage. Beautiful collection!!

Beth Morey 7 years agofrom Montana

What a fantastic tutorial! I loved paper dolls as a kid.

E. A. Wright 8 years agofrom New York City

Next time I need to take a few hours and revert to being a child, I now know where to go. I loved paper dolls.

getpaidtopost 8 years agofrom UK

Thanks, great info, I will show my daughter tomorrow, she will love this. Thanks.

Author

girly_girl09 8 years agofrom United States

Thanks for the comment! I never even thought of making the dolls with fabric to make 'real' clothes...what a fantastic idea!!!

R Burow 8 years agofrom Florida, United States

I have a daughter who loves and collects paper dolls. One year we even made paper dolls with 'real' clothing for a birthday party take home gift. I can not wait for my daughter to read this hub, and be further inspired. I was. Thank you for the great information.

Wow! Impressive information! And so detailed and complete! It's very easy to follow when reading, but I guess I'm just not that creative when it comes to making dolls! Here in Manila they make good dolls out of recycled trash. Hey, thanks for the artcile!